The Great Art of Knowing by Daniel Stolzenberg

Most of the chapters likewise focus on Kircher's place in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century discussions, revealing simultaneouslyKircher's debt to his predecessors and his originality. Findlen's introductory essay sets the stage for the remainder of the book by offering less a biography of Kircher than a survey of his reputation from brilliant young scholar to discredited liar. This short review cannot do justice to the essays presented in this volume instead, it focuses on a few important themes that recur throughout the text.

The present volume contains nineteen short essays that illustrate the multifarious ways that Kircher was a barometer not just for the seventeenth century, but for much of the early modern period. Both arise from an exhibition and conference held at Stanford University in 2001. The present collection of essays on this erudite and fascinating polymath complements Daniel Stolzenberg's catalogue The Great Art of Knowing: TheBaroque Encyclopedia of Athanasius Kircher (reviewed in RQ 56.3 ). Kircher's efforts to write on every subject that he encountered, to build correspondence networks, to collect and display all manner of objects, and to attract powerful patrons make him 'a barometer of virtually every intellectual transformation of the seventeenth century' (41). His wide-ranging interests and voluminous publications provide endless opportunity to sample the intellectual currents of the seventeenth century. Athanasius Kircher continues to attract scholarly attention.

The Great Art of Knowing by Daniel Stolzenberg